The British daily “The Observer” published on Sunday an investigation by Emma Graham-Harrison about the new crimes committed by the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group in booby trapping the toys of children in Mosul to stall the army’s campaign to liberate the city.

The article, entitled “The cunning and cruel bombs used by Isis to stall the Mosul offensive,” said that “The teddy bear, garish but cuddly, is propped on top of the explosives it was designed to hide and detonate. An adult would probably have walked by, but to a child the wide eyes and fuzzy orange fur would have been irresistible.”

“The expertise of Isis with explosives and extensive use of suicide bombs and booby traps makes attacking them particularly dangerous, and slows recovery when they are defeated. Because there is no area, civilian or military, that the group will not lace with explosives, many Iraqis fear that returning to their homes and former lives could be deadly, even long after militants have left,” Graham-Harrison wrote.

The author added that ISIL preserved some of the most creative, cruel and unusual of those homemade bombs to use as training aids for new recruits to one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

“The homemade explosive devices provide a lesson in the depths of ingenuity, intelligence and resources that Isis devotes to spreading murder and fear even when its fighters can no longer terrorise in person,” she said.